The Young Entrepreneurs Academy, Inc. [YEA!] with Incredible Ideas Ltd has announced the launch of its first two Academy centers that will launch this August in Mumbai and Delhi. The Young Entrepreneurs Academy celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit of India’s youth by teaching students ages 11-18 how to launch their own, real companies.
The YEA! class will launch in Mumbai at the American School of Bombay and at the Shri Ram School in Delhi, 2 premier education institutes in India. Each YEA! class is designed for 30 students between the ages of 11 and 18 to participate in a 25-week after-school entrepreneurship program to generate business ideas, conduct market research, write business plans and pitch to a panel of investors for startup funding. By the end of class, students launch their own, real companies.
The Young Entrepreneurs Academy is proud to announce the launch of the Mumbai and Delhi centers as Prime Minster Narendra Modi announces ‘Start-Up Action Plan for India’ and ‘Start-up India’ an initiative that celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit of India’s youth.
Namita Thapar, founder of Incredible Ideas Ltd and Chief Financial Officer & Executive Board member of Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Ltd has partnered with YEA! to bring this program to India. Being a Chartered Accountant and MBA from Duke University, she is passionate about the field of education and hopes to scale this program Pan India in the coming years.
Students will get an opportunity to hear as well as get inspired by several celebrity guest speakers. The list comprises of entrepreneurs from some of the top industrial houses in India as well as some of the larger e-commerce start-ups. In addition, students will take behind the scenes, fun-filled trips to India’s most successful businesses. They will work with mentors from top consulting and venture capital funds in India.
Finally, they will participate in a ‘Shark Tank’ style Investor Panel, where they will present their business ideas to a panel of India’s most successful business leaders for the opportunity to secure real funding to launch their businesses.
One YEA! India student will be named the YEA! Saunders Scholars National Winner and qualify to speak at a national event in Washington, DC. Quikr, Luxor and Cello, 3 reputed companies founded by Indian entrepreneurs, are the national sponsors of this program. Incredible Ideas in India is the first overseas organization to license YEA!.
YEA! was founded in 2004 at the University of Rochester, New York with support from the Kauffman Foundation. YEA! classes are currently available in more than 103 centers across 39 states in the U.S.A. To date, more than 4,000 YEA! students have launched over 3,000 real businesses.
YEA! alumni include 15-year-old Rachel Zietz, CEO of Gladiator Lacrosse who was featured in The New York Times and Entrepreneur.com for her business success as the number one re-seller of lacrosse re-bounders on Amazon. Zietz is now a contender on season seven of ABC’s hit show, Shark Tank.
YEA! is sponsored by the United States Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Sam’s Club and supported by other companies including Toshiba, American Express, General Motors, Coca Cola, FedEx, Kodak and Microsoft.